This is my last game under the 0.9.x version of the rules.
Lost Colonylord of darkness, fleet commander, heavy armour, executioner axe, talisman of regeneration, dragonhelm: 273
lvl4 fire, talisman of 4++, dispel scroll: 310
cult of blood priestess BSB, whip of subversion, blood armour: 170
lvl2 beasts, tome of arcane lore: 120
20 spearmen, heavy armour, FCG: 230
10 blood maidens, FCG, flaming banner: 160
2x 5 shadow riders, crossbows, shields, musician: 2x 120
3x 10 executioners, standard, musician: 3x 150
5 shadow stalkers, ahw, poison: 90
2 bolt throwers, multishot: 2x 75
bolt thrower: 55
5 harpies: 70
3 medusas: 180
Vampiresvampire lord von Castelstein, lvl3 death, flying mount, 4++ ward, beastbane halberd, 2++ vs fire
vampire BSB von Castelstein, lvl2 death, 4++ ward
4x 5 dire wolves, champion
3x 14 ghouls, champion, skirmish, vanguard
3x vargbeast / varkolak, vanguard
3x 3 vampiric monstrosities, champion
EDIT: mistakes in the VC list corrected. Also, the list was illegal as ghouls can only buy vanguard if a vampire of the Strigoi bloodline is leading them (or something).
So... crap! An undead army that is more manoeuverable than me? Where is the world going?
I really like this VC list. It is fast, hits hard, can adjust deployment easily, is very well able to get to the flanks or make combined charges. Both general and BSB have a range of 24 inches (large target + von Castelstein ability). The list is also very difficult to shoot at: the general provides blurry in his inspiring presence range and most things are skirmish or have high tougness + regen.
I am really sad I forgot my camera and am therefore unable to reproduce what exactly was happening.
Here I deployed everything right away, to get a chance to adjust my positioning after his vanguards. I would have been unable to lure his deploment out of him anyway - 3x wolves, 3x ghouls, centrally placed monstrosities and my battleplan is obvious anyway. The reason is I am convinced I have to keep my units close together in this matchup; this way, I am hopefully able to prevent flank charges or nasty things landing behind my back.
Despite the defensive deployment, however, I immediately advanced to project some threat. My opponent didn't fear me and so I was charging T2. Initially I was successful in some fights at least; then, however, a varghulf ran through half of my army, the vampiric BSB killed my lord and everything fell apart.
End result: 0:20 in the favour of vampires most likely. I killed 700 or 800 points but lost everything except a unit of dark riders.
Vampire characters - it is terrifying how many break test modifiers they can accumulate. Fear: -1 Ld. Each death spell further -1, one will probably go through at least. Von Castelstein: +1 to each combat result. This means that if two heroes are facing each other, no one scores a wound but the vampire has charged or is a BSB, the opponent is already testing on Ld6 and that only if he was starting on Ld10. This is how my general perished: she managed to roll that break test on Ld6 or what once but not for a second time.
On the other hand, as large targets they are vulnerable to shooting and if they have bodyguards, they can be leaked combat resolution that way so they are paying a price for that strong combo.
varghulfs - well, everyone knows they are extremely good so I will keep it short. The problem is this thing has it all - durable with T5 regen and 3+ hunger, hard-hitting with 5 S6 attacks at WS5 with hatred, fast being a single model with M8. They are faster than many cavalry units! I actually managed to destroy two of them early (I will get to this) but the third killed 10 blood maidens with BSB, then charged 10 executioners with both sorceresses, killed the small sorc first round together with 3 execs, survived when the execs got buffed with frenzy and flaming sword (not at the same time of course) and emerged from all this bloodshed without a single wound as everything I got through got healed.
vargheists (vampiric monstrosities)- they did not see much action in this battle. From the almost nonexistent data I have, they seem fine when it comes to balance - fast and hard hitting but vulnerable. It might be somewhat a problem that they are so fast - there won't be that many things that don't mind gettingcharged by them in the flank. One unit can be destroyed by a nice round of shooting but facingthree together with some knights for example could press the enemy quite hard. After all, this is exacty what had happened to me here.
On the other hand, their fragility is not to be underestimated - see the entry for spearmen.
ghouls - It is funny but in a way, they were the units that were bothering me the most. They are too cheap and weak to concentrate too much effort on them but on the other hand, they can't be ignored. I can't allow them to flank charge me. I should have probably tried to kill them first with some charges that would have as a result broken me out of encirclement but that is easier said than done. They were very useful in pinning things down or finishing them off.
Whip of subversion - The item was lackluster here. It proved it is indeed very dicey. When the varghulf charged my BSB I needed to do one single wound to completely neutralize him. Out of 5 attacks, I scored 3 hits on 2+, 1 wound on 4+ and that was saved on 4+ regen. This is an unlucky result for me but not an extremely unlikely one. In return, my BSB was killed easily with 4 attacks allocated on her. So... as said, I am not sure how much is the rule with negating enemy's attacks worth. It can be amazing one game and completely useless another.
O.10 update: funny thing is, it is called whip of Yema now but I see it as most useful on a Nabh character because of hatred and poison.
Executioner axe - Another useless item.
The enemy was seriously scared of it which is a good thing. The bad thing is that it did no damage. In the combat against the enemy BSB, two attacks failed to hit and the remaining two were warded. Unlucky for sure but again, this item has a high volatility, doing nothing is very well possible. I could buy holy attacks I guess but that would mean no 4++ ward.
0.10 update: hatred could make a big difference here. I am planning to test as soon as possible.
One more thing that worries me: if there is a flying lord on the table, it will be difficult to get my lord to fight him and even if I succeed, the mount's attacks and especially stomps could potentially swing the combat in my opponent's favour. Even the vampire BSB has four attacks more + stomp thanks to the mount and while they are not of high quality they can produce some wounds anyway. It's just a feeling unsupported by real arguments but I feel the executioner axe lord might need some support to be truly effective. Caudron for +1 attack for example. As I have said, though, hatred is a considerable boost.
Blood maidens - They did nothing to a varghulf and died. Is this really surprising? They would have been good against ghouls and vampiric monstrosities I guess.
Executioners - one unit got weakened by ghouls getting in its flank and killed by vampire characters. My mistake. Second unit was fighting a varghulf without success; it was constantly failing fear tests and my opponent was rolling regens well. The remaining one charged some vampiric monstrosities, fought to a stalemate and then got destroyed by a countercharge.
DE magic - it was in this battle I noticed the wilderness magic frenzy spell has an aura version cast on 9+. Giving half of an army ITP and +1 attack is very strong. One more reason to like this lore.
In general, my magic was useful but I am not sure it is worth the points I am spending on it.
Spearmen - Buffed by the frenzy spell, they charged a unit of monstrosities to hold them down for a while and protect my sorceresses. To my big surprise, they actually managed to crumble the unit in one single phase! Then they overran in another unit o monstrosities... and won again. Unbelievable. In hindsight, however, it is actually not that unlikely - they have a decent chance of doing six wounds, leaving only one monstrosity fighting which won't kill enough. And even if they wound slightly worse and two monstrosities survive, the warriors should hold their ground. It shows the fragility of the monstrosities very well.
Medusas - The best thing last. I put the girls at the spearhead of my forces to project their threat arc as far forwards as possible. My opponent did not fear them at all and placed two varghulfs in front of them; it was done in such a way that I had to charge both because I was unable to fit there (alternatively, I could have connected with some monstrosities, too). So I took the charge, got off flaming sword and killed a varghulf with my attacks. The other one then fluffed big time, scored no wounds and crumbled. This was some lucky rolling for me but the varghulf was hitting on 5+ which is not that awesome even with a reroll. Even with normal rolling, though, he should have been be unable to kill a whole medusa which would have seen him destroyed in the following combat phase most likely.
Too bad the medusas died right after that in combat against both the heroes who were both attacking before them. One should also note that they were aided by probably the best possible buff in the whole game given their situation. Still, they did some serious work this battle.
All in all, this was a really good battle. I felt I was pressed hard right from the beginning but at the same time I don't think I was without chances - just that I needed a flawless play to prevail. The vargulf killing two units, my BSB and both sorceresses was the deciding moment and I am not sure what could have I done to prevent that; on the other hand, I did did some mistakes and I was lucky in other instances so I am not saying I have lost unjustly.
Overall, I feel my army needs a more reliable source of buffs than magic because my units can't take on that many things one on one and combined charges are quite hard to get in some instances, this battle being a good example. It might help once we start playing with secondary objectives (this undead army can never win one for example). Otherwise, an altar might be a possibility, the newly allowed hatred for executioners could help as well. I will have to throw something out of the army to explore this. A long journey of exploring lies ahead!